SAFE Horses
SAFE News and Updates
November Volunteer of the Month: Jules Malen
SAFE wishes to recognize Jules Malen for his courage, his sweet disposition, his surprising appearance at the barn Saturday mornings in spite of the impact that chemotherapy has on his physical condition, and his overall attitude and love of SAFE and the horses. Fellow shift volunteer Nitant says, “Jules is an extremely valued member of the Saturday morning shift. His calm demeanor, friendly…
Clinic Update: Mason
Here is a glowing report from Lori on her work with Mason in the recent clinic at SAFE: On November 18th I took Mason into the groundwork portion of the Joel Conner clinic. Mason did such a great job. His reactiveness has improved so much. Joel even came over and took him from me. He tossed the rope at him and moved him around. Told me that Mason is doing so much better since the last time he…
Clinic Update: Raven
Raven showed much improvement and maturity in her second Horsemanship Clinic at SAFE. Casey had this to say about working with her: I had the pleasure of working Raven in both groundwork sessions of the November Joel Conner clinic. She settled right in to the high-energy atmosphere. She had no problem moving around the arena and other horses, and really cued in to my feel, which is a testament…
Ben vs the Cows!
Here is what volunteer rider Lisa had to share about her time spent with Ben at a Horsemanship and Ranch Riding clinic October 6th: This past weekend, Ben and I attended the Ricky Quinn clinic in Ellensburg and, yet again, this horse has blown me away. We started each of the 3 days in a Horsemanship class, improving the finesse of some seemingly-basic skills; balance, flexion, collection, and…
Angel Settles into Life at SAFE
We are very encouraged by the great progress Angel has made since coming to Safe Harbor. She is now easily caught by people she knows well so at lunchtime, she’s being pulled out of her paddock for an extra mash to help her put on weight. She eats a little bit of hay but her teeth and age don’t allow her to get all the nutrition she needs just from hay so she will always need to be supplemented…
Valor Wears a Saddle!
Part of Valor’s rehab is to make him into a riding horse. The riding work will help him build muscles and allow him to start working on larger hills out on the trails. Here is Jolene saddling Valor at Safe Harbor. https://youtu.be/Q2xmc0a0Hco
A New Chance for Nora
We are so happy to announce that Nora has been welcomed into the loving home of SAFE volunteer Sarah R. Sarah had been volunteering at SAFE for some time and offered to do some liberty work with our companions. When she met Nora, there was an instant connection. Soon Sarah discovered what a special mare Nora is and how genuinely kind she is to be around. Her personality fit perfectly with…
October Volunteer of the Month: Brandee Warren
Facilities crew member and chore volunteer Brandee Warren is October Volunteer of the Month for Save a Forgotten Equine. Among the special projects she has helped with, fellow volunteers may recall seeing her geared up and pressure washing stalls at the Woodinville property before the move last February. The Issaquah resident first learned about SAFE when she joined a Day of Caring event in…
Ru and Valencia enjoy the sunshine
Meet Ru and Valencia!
We welcomed two new horses to SAFE this week. Ru and Valencia are a pair of Thoroughbreds who belonged to an elderly man who was facing severe medical problems and was no longer able to care for them. Ru is a 20 year old TB who raced briefly as a 3 year old at Portland Meadows. He is a tall, nearly black gelding who is very gentle and friendly. His registered name is Ruach, which is the Hebrew…
Microsoft Give
Sunny and Shasta had a great day at Microsoft today supporting the Give campaign and representing SAFE…they made many new friends outside building 31 and building 122…and even got to enjoy a few apples. SAFE receives incredible support from Microsoft and its wonderful employees. We were thrilled to be able to share our mini horses with some of you today!
Big and Little: Ben and Sunny D
Belle and Aurora Join the Herd
SAFE welcomed two new horses to our herd today. Belle is a 19 year old Thoroughbred mare, and her daughter Aurora is 11 years old. The two girls are sharing a quarantine space at Safe Harbor for the time being, and seem very interested in all the goings on around them. We’ll give them time to acclimate and settle in before we start evaluating them to see what they know and what they need to…
Adoption Announcement: Cameo!
It may take some time but when the right fit comes into one of our horses lives the adoption process seems to have always been meant to be. This is exactly how it was when Cameo’s adopter Lindsay realized that she couldn’t see her life without this mare in it! We all could see this pair had a special bond so once the decision was made it was with pure joy we matched Cameo with her PERFECT home!…
Adoption Announcment: Vida!
We are so pleased to announce the placement of our sweet companion mare Vida. She is now loving her new life with JoElla! A few months ago JoElla came to us, interested in getting a horse. She has never owned a horse before and while she did have family to help her take on this responsibility, she still needed to get more comfortable around horses. So we recommended that she come to SAFE and…
September Volunteer of the Month: Debbie Meyer
In recognition of her outstanding efforts to obtain sponsorships for the 2017 SAFE Benefit Horse Show, Save a Forgotten Equine (SAFE) is pleased to honor Debbie Meyer as Volunteer of the Month. Our September honoree had not been around horses before joining SAFE, “but always referred to my beloved, rescued, Italian mastiff, Guido, as my ‘pony’ because he was the biggest of the four mastiffs I…
2017 Q3 Impact Statement
New Horses Intake Date: August 10, 2017 Cosmo (owner surrender) Angel (owner surrender) Callie (owner surrender) Nashville (owner surrender) Renee (owner surrender) Valor (owner surrender) Placed Horses Cameo Vida Ruger Nora
End of Summer Photos with Valor
Poor Anderson
It’s finally raining again and no one at SAFE is happier about that than Anderson. The smoke and dust in the air this summer have been exceptionally hard on his lungs. We started noticing that he’d cough a bit when asked to canter, so when Dr. Fleck came to do his dental, we had him listen to his lungs as well. Unfortunately Dr Fleck did not like what he was hearing. He prescribed medications to…
Banjo & Finn visit Safe Harbor
Our WONDERFUL foster mom Carrie brought the Finn and Joey for a visit during the last Joel Conner clinic. She had this to report about the experience: The boys both enjoyed their field trip out to SAFE for the Joel Conner clinic! They loaded into the trailer like it was no big deal, and even though neither Finn nor Banjo had been to the new barn before (or left my place for a year, except for…
Making Progress with Mason
Lori has been working with Mason since his arrival at SAFE last year. She continues to chip away at his issues, hoping that he may still become a safe riding partner. For now, all this groundwork is helping him to trust people and be more comfortable in his body. Here is what Lori had to share about him in the clinic last weekend: Today was the second day of this weekend’s Joel Conner clinic. I…
Training & Clinic Update: Tasara
Sweet Tasara is coming along well in her training. She has been working steadily with a saddle on her back for a few weeks now and doing well. She is a very sensitive mare and we are working on helping her relax through the groundwork. There are many things we can do to help her regulate her reactions to things. Helping her get comfortable with increasing and decreasing energy is key to her…
Summer Fun with Sunny & Shasta
What a fun summer we had…and Sunny and Shasta have their own Facebook page now!! Now that all the SAFE horses are settled in at the new barn in Redmond, Sunny and Shasta had the opportunity to get out into the community and make some new friends this summer. A team of SAFE volunteers joined the minis at the Redmond Saturday Market. We had a booth and talked to so many people about what SAFE does…
Anderson Photo Gallery
photos by Jessica Farren
Sophie: Grown up and Looking Great!
Sophie has been doing amazing things with her adopter Julie W. We are so happy to share this great video of them working at the Jaton Lord clinic this past weekend. Julie has done a wonderful job and is raising this girl right! They have a fantastic future ahead of them! https://youtu.be/VHboUTA3rhY
Reber Ranch Day
Sunny and Shasta had such a terrific day yesterday at Reber Ranch in Kent. Reber Ranch has always been such a great supporter of Save a Forgotten Equine (SAFE) and their customers are always so generous. Thanks to everyone who stopped by to say hi, donated items from SAFE’s wishlist for the Fill the Trailer event, and to those who donated money. All of the rescued horses at SAFE really…
Renee at the Joel Conner Clinic
This past weekend was a big success for Renee. We started on Friday by asking Joel to assess her past training and help us formulate a plan for our next steps. He took a look at her under saddle and rode her a little to see how she’d react. All said and done, we have some work ahead of us before she is going to be available as a riding horse. However she showed much improvement at each working…
Getting to know Cali
SAFE Operations Director Terry Phelps has been spending a lot of time recently with the new horses at SAFE. Here’s what she has to share about Cali: This roan mare is really starting to grow on me. She was a bit shy and flighty at first but I’ve found that once she gets past her initial fears she relaxes and her whole body changes. It is taking less time for her to get there each time I work…
Working with Stormy
From our Herd Health Manager and volunteer Melinda: I’ve been working with Stormy regularly for a few weeks now. It’s been a learning curve for both of us, for sure! This is the first blind horse I’ve worked with. I’ve been teaching her aspects of the horsemanship techniques we use as the basis for SAFE’s training program and combining those with clicker training to teach verbal cues. For the…
Getting to know Cosmo
This handsome 13 year old gelding is proving to be a very nice gentleman and is very easy to handle. We were told that he has been started and ridden on trails. All of his medical evaluations have come back clear. His dental float and xrays of his front hooves were both normal with no surprises. Since he has been so gentle to work with I have been doing groundwork in preparation for riding the…